Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Alfred Cheney Johnston


acjdrapedstare copy, originally uploaded by carbonated.

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10 comments:

lotusgreen said...

ooooooooo

7:36 AM
M said...

I love this style, very vampy.

7:57 AM
lotusgreen said...

by the way--is it true? you are not only not an american, but you've never even been here?

10:50 PM
M said...

I'm Portuguese, yes.

10:57 PM
jtk said...

She looks a little bit like a young Marion Davies.

8:05 PM
M said...

Oh, I think I see it. I like Davies' face a lot.

8:52 PM
lotusgreen said...

you speak (write) such an amazingly perfect, idiomatic english i never guessed you were not a native speaker. i'm really impressed.

1:41 PM
M said...

Thanks, that's very kind, but really I don't deserve so many compliments, and my skill is ordinary. English is taught in schools and you hear it all the time in music, movies and television. If the same were true of Portuguese you too would speak it fluently.

5:25 PM
lotusgreen said...

well, i'm sorry to compliment you again--you must forgive me. but.... i have two other friends who are portuguese with whom i correspond through email or IM all the time, and never for a second would i confuse them for native speakers of english. these are intelligent, well-educated people (one is a physician), and their english is okay, better than my portuguese, of course, but it's very clear that it's a second language for them.

9:15 PM
M said...

If your common sense made you feel any apologies were in order, why not use that same common sense to refrain yourself from repeating something I had already said I didn't want to hear?

Many people have told me they can't believe someone who is not an Anglo-Saxon can speak the language properly. Some have went to so far as to call me a liar, while others have expressed contempt at the very thought that a foreigner could be smart enough to learn how to speak another language properly. It's not your fault that there are racists and xenophobes out there, of course, but that is the reason why now I no longer take any pleasure in hearing my use of the language being praised. The more someone expresses surprise the less pleased I am. I'd appreciate it this time you respected my wishes and didn't talk about this any further.

10:41 PM

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